head to head · open source
yazi vs zrok
yazi has 42,303 GitHub stars, 1,023 forks, 65 open issues and last shipped yesterday. zrok has 4,711 stars, 224 forks, 125 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. yazi leads on adoption by 798% (42,303 vs 4,711 stars). yazi is written in Rust under MIT; zrok is written in Go under Apache-2.0. yazi has attracted 2% as many forks as stars, zrok 5%. yazi was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| yazi | zrok | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 42K | ★ 4.7K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-06-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 224 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick yazi if
- You weight community size — 42K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick zrok if
- You want the zrok feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and zrok fits your workflow better
About yazi
Yazi is a terminal file manager written in Rust on non blocking async I/O, aimed at developers and command line users who want fast, customizable file browsing without leaving the terminal.
About zrok
zrok is an open source, Apache 2.0 licensed secure sharing tool written in Go that lets developers, operators, and self hosters expose web services, folders, and TCP or UDP resources over the internet or to specific users without firewall changes or port forwarding.
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Frequently asked questions
Is yazi or zrok more popular?
yazi has 42,303 GitHub stars and zrok has 4,711. yazi has the larger community by that measure.
Are yazi and zrok free?
Both are open source. yazi is licensed under MIT and zrok under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between yazi and zrok?
yazi is written in Rust and zrok in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, yazi or zrok?
Choose yazi if you want the larger community (42,303 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose zrok if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.